The Relationship between Eating Disorders and Stress among Medical Undergraduate: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Eating disorders are compulsive behaviours that can consume a person's life to the point of becoming life threatening. Medical college can be a very stressful time and previous studies had found that stress could be a main factor leading to higher risk of eating disorder. We aimed to determine the association between stress and eating disorders among undergraduate medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 respondents comprises of Year 3, 4 and 5 medical students in private medical college in Malaysia, assessed using self-administered questionnaires which consist of social demographic data, EAT-26 and Cohen Perceived Stress Scale. The response rate of this study was 77.4%. Results: With regards to EAT-26, 11.0% of medical students were at risk of developing eating disorder and from this students who have obese BMI status (25%) had 3.9 times more likely to develop eating disorder (95% CI: 1.4 -10.9). There was significant association between those with unsatisfactory social relationship with friends and peers (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.0 -5.9; p value 0.035) and risk of developing eating disorders (OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.4 -10.9; p value 0.007). For Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS), 75.5% of the respondents were having high stress level. There was no significant association between stress and the risk of eating disorders with OR 1.0, 95% CI: 0.6 -1.7; p value 0.887. Conclusion: Majority of medical undergraduates were under stressed and there was a risky trend toward eating disorders in medical. However, based on our results it did not portray any significant association between stress and risk of developing eating disorders. Nevertheless, it should not be completely neglected. It is important to increase the awareness of medical undergraduates regarding eating disorders and its complications.

The Relationship between Eating Disorder and General Life Stressors among College Students in Jordan

“…In a specific, general life stressors over all can be a very good predictor of eating disorder and more specific "Binge eating" among students. This finding is not in agreement with the study of Ngan [28]. The logical explanation to this finding can be viewed as students release there stress and tensions toward foods and into eating as a way to cope with their stressful life and demanding issues.…”

“…The sample consisted of (263) who took Cohen Perceived Stress Scale to determine the association between stress and eating disorders among undergraduate students. The result indicated that students experienced moderate stressful life; however the result indicated no significant relationship between stress and risk of eating disorder, and no significant relationship between age, gender, residence, and risk of developing eating disorder among students [28].…”

“…The study of Munn-Chernoff and co-authors [32], investigate the prevalence of purging disorder in a community sample of female twins. The sample consisted of (1,790) monozygotic and (1,440) dizygotic European American female twins age (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). A structured clinical interview was used to assess lifetime criteria for eating disorders and purging disorder.…”

“…Reviewing the related literatures revealed different results regarding the relationship between general life stressors and eating disorders among college students. Some of the studies indicated no significant relationship between stress and risk of eating disorder, such as the study of Ngan and co-authors [28]. While, other expertise indicated a positive relationship between the two variables such as American Psychiatric Association, DSM-V, [4] and the National institute of mental health [1].…”

“…The following two scales were used in this study after they were translated into Arabic. The researchers benefited from previous related literature in the field of stressful life issues among college students in order to develop the scale [8,28,34,35].…”